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Sunday, February 22, 2015

Canadian Content. It Does Exist!

One of the things I think a lot of Canadians find hard when homeschooling is finding a curriculum that has Canadian content. One can say well why is having Canadian content so important? There are numerous reasons.

Canadian math uses metric not imperial.

Canadian history is obviously going to be more specific when written from a Canadian perspective.

Canadian geography well don't even get me started with how many curriculum leave it out or just plain have it wrong.

Canadian cultural studies are also often generalized and not accurate

I could go on listing reasons why content matters but if you've been schooling at home you likely have already discovered some of these reasons for yourself. What I do want to convey here is that there are some great Canadian content pieces out there for use. The Canadian Homeschooler has compiled a great list of these as well.

For us one such resource is Complete French Smart by Popular Books, the makers of The Complete Canadian Curriculum books. Here are my reasons for recommending this book line. The books are grade leveled and although I don't put much stock into worrying about what actual grade my child is in it's nice to find a curriculum that offers easier levels working toward more complex levels after a good amount of practice. The books are colorful, no one wants to look at black and white all the time. Each word is translated into English and has the phonetic pronunciation under each word as well. This is a major boost to teaching. Even when you have a full curriculum that comes with a cd for pronunciation it can hinder class time to search through it for a particular word or phrase. Having the phonics right in from of the student also helps them to take control over their learning. In addition to that being able to do a lot of writing, reading, and translating in French better enables students to grasp the language and use it more effectively. These books are also budget friendly at only $20 per book.

This month the Canadian Homeschool Blogging Team is having a terrific giveaway from Couteau Books The contest is open to CANADA only. 18+. Ends March 11th at 11:59EST. The prize pack is a set of 8 books called Disaster Strikes.